Anthy Himemiya
"I'm the Rose Bride. I must do whatever the winner of the duels tells me to do." '' ''- Anthy Himemiya A mysterious girl who is said to have no thoughts or desires besides that of what her master expects of her. Because of her "doormat" behavior, other characters tend to project their wants or desires onto her, and she's always the target of their eventual rage. Her past and current personality are simultaneously tragic and sinister, and her personality sifts between selfless love, passive-aggressive revenge, cruelty, and learned helplessness. Like Utena, Anthy also subverts and conforms to the stereotypes she embodies as both a damsel in distress and a witch. Abilities Anthy appears to house the Sword of Dios within her own body. At the beginning of a duel, she slips into a trance and the Sword manifests, protruding from her chest so that her champion may draw it from her. This Sword is said to be a key to reaching the goal of Revolution, and Anthy, in her position as the Rose Bride, is supposed to be the key to obtaining it. Anthy exhibits other unusual abilities as well, including magically embellishing Utena's uniform before the duel. She seems to be able to completely alter her appearance, or at least induce others to see her for someone other than who she really is. Likewise, there is some indication that she has the ability to transform others as well (as in the episode "The Cowbell of Happiness"). Story Manga In the manga, Anthy is far more violent. Anime Student Council Saga At the beginning of the Student Council Saga, Anthy is engaged to the abusive Saionji. In the first episode, Saionji is seen having an argument with Anthy and slaps her. True to her initially demure personality in the anime, she does not resist him. When she is not in class or her dorm with her pets (especially her pet monkey Chu Chu; she is later seen to also have many other pets) , Anthy remains in the hothouse, tending to the roses. For most of the Council saga, Anthy acts more or less as a puppet, believing that it is both her place and duty as the Rose Bride to obey her "master", the current champion duellist. She does display shock when Utena manages to defeat Saionji, and happily refers to him as "classmate" after his defeat. After Utena becomes engaged to Anthy, she attempts to get her to make more friends. It works, until Anthy admits that she is only doing as Utena wishes because they are engaged. Anthy does not try to stop Utena when she decides to purposefully begin losing the duels to free Anthy. Nontheless, she seems happy when Utena decides to continue winning for the sake of Anthy and Chu Chu. As the Council Saga progresses, Anthy comes out of her shell more and more. Black Rose Saga In the Black Rose Saga, Anthy becomes even more important, as a new group of duellists seeks to kill her and install a terminally ill boy as the Rose Bride. The Black Rose saga also reveals that Anthy's brother Akio is the chairman of the school and that she goes to visit him on weekends.She keeps her involvement as the Rose Bride a secret from him, and though she begins to take Utena with her on occasion, asks her to keep it from him as well, feeling that he would be displeased with her. It is implied in the beginning of the Black Rose Saga that there is a darker side to Anthy than has been previously seen, and also that she may have an incestuous relationship with Akio. Akio seems to be the only one who can bring this out of her. Although Anthy is more important in the respect that someone is trying to kill her, she also takes a backseat in the storyline for much of the saga as Utena is reluctant to use the power of Dios within Anthy to fight the Black Rose duellists for fear they will be harmed. Akio Ohtori Saga The Akio Ohtori Saga introduces viewers to it's titular character, the interim chairman of Ohtori Academy. Anthy reveals to Utena that the chairman is her brother Akio. Towards the end of the Black Rose Saga and the beginning of the Akio Ohtori Saga, it is also revealed that Anthy leaves the dorm she shares with Utena every Saturday, keeping her whereabouts a secret from everyone, including Utena. She then goes to meet Akio and spend time with her brother. This saga begins a major change in Anthy's characterization and her choices here affect her relationship with Utena for the remainder of the anime. Anthy is much more secretive than in previous arcs, even begging Utena not to reveal her place in the duels for the Rose Bride to Akio. Also, this saga presents some changes to Anthy's role as the Rose Bride, since each duellist who challenges Utena now chooses a bride for him or herself. Anthy and the challenger's Bride each play much more supporting roles to their respective duellists. The relationships between each duellist and his or her Bride play a major part in whether or not the duellist wins. It is also revealed that Anthy has an apparently incestuous relationship with Akio. This is discovered by Nanami, but kept secret. End of the World Saga The End of the World Saga is the final Saga in Revolutionary Girl Utena. This saga finally reveals Anthy's true nature. A rift begins to grow between Anthy and Utena, as both have things they need to confess but can't seem to speak them out loud. Utena refuses to admit that she has witnessed Anthy and Akio's incest, deepening the distance. While maintaining her innocent appearence to the end and promising Utena that they will remain friends forever, Anthy manipulates Utena, even calmly threatening at one point to poison her, which she later shrugs off as a joke. Anthy contiunues her relationship with Akio and is revealed in Utena's dreams to be a cursed witch who a young Utena vowed to save. She begins to experience pain on the way to Utena's future duels, prompting her to almost commit suicide, only to be saved by Utena. Anthy becomes ill as the final duel approaches, leading Akio to show Utena an illusion of Anthy's true form as a witch. Utena tries to protect Anthy from him, believing that it isn't true, but Anthy shows her true colors, literally stabbing Utena in the back at the end of the series penultimate episode. In the final episode, Anthy explains that although Utena reminds her of Dios when she has feelings for him, Utena is a girl and thus incapable of ever being her prince. Still, she hesitates to give the sword to End of the World. She professes her love for him before slowly surrendering. Calling Utena stubborn and reckless, she leaves her. Anthy is then pierced by a million swords in place of her prince. A coffin appears with Anthy inside. Tears falling down her face, Anthy tries to take Utena's hand and appears to fall to her death. In the end, Anthy walks down a hall unharmed as people talk about Utena. In the chairman's office, Akio tells Anthy he's restarted the rules of the Rose Crest. She takes off her glasses and tells him she's leaving to find Utena. In a voiceover, she swears to find Utena, telling her to wait for her. Whether or not Anthy ever finds Utena is left ambiguous, and in a special scene following the credits a picture which Akio took of he, Anthy and Utena together is shown in a frame with Akio's image cut out. In a voiceover, we hear a conversation between Anthy and Utena in which Utena tells her: "Listen, if you ever have a problem, come to me first. I want us to be friends like that. At the end of the conversation, the title card reading "And Someday, Together, We'll Shine appears on the screen. The final image of the series is a close up of Anthy and Utena's clasped hands from the photo. Movie Anthy is first seen in the movie while tending her roses when Utena Tenjou mistakenly happens upon the garden. She easily opens up to Utena, telling her that the chairman is her brother, and that this allows her special perks at the academy, including being one of the few allowed into the rose gardens. Anthy is clearly aware of the duels and what Utena's ring means, whereas Utena herself is oblivious. Anthy also has a tendency to assume that Utena is aware of more about the duels than she actually is, and expresses shock when she learns that Utena is totally unaware of how the duels work. Anthy's relationship with Saionji in the movie is somewhat more controlling than in the anime as well, and Anthy appears to show a disinterest in the duel between Utena and Saionji as she spends most of it with her back turned to the duellists. Only when she hears Utena defending her does she turn and begin to watch. When Saionji pushes Utena off of the edge of the arena, it is Anthy who jumps to her rescue, kissing Utena and allowing her the use of the sword of Dios. After Saionji's loss, Anthy shows up in Utena's dorm room, attempting to make it clear that being the winner of the duel gives Utena exclusive rights to Anthy in both a romantic and sexual sense. She endeavors to offer herself to Utena for a sexual encounter. Her advances are shot down, and her persistence angers Utena . Nonetheless, she does invite Anthy to stay the night with her. Despite the fact that Utena lashed out at her, Anthy accepts after some slight persuasion, at which point the two women share a bed as Anthy explains the secrets of the duels. It is also of note that Anthy either takes a back seat or vanishes with no explanation at all when not with Utena or Akio in part of the storyline, and she is never seen close to any male characters except her brother, Touga and Saionji (though the later is by force, not choice). In the scenes just before Akio's death, it is seen that some one (presumably Anthy) drugged Akio's drink, causing him to become disoriented and forget the location of his car keys. He stumbles out the window, falls and dies. When his body is found in her roses, Anthy is targeted as the prime suspect. The issue of Akio's murder appears to remain unresolved. Notable Relationships Utena Tenjou Utena is a middle school girl with whom Anthy develops a close friendship and relationship after she is saved from her abusive boyfriend Saionji. Over the course of the anime, Utena becomes Anthy's friend, champion, and (implied) lover. She becomes Anthy's prince, and later sacrifices herself so Anthy can be free from her curse as the Rose Bride. As Anthy gets closer to Utena she becomes more outgoing, even making friends with some of Utena's friends. It is her relationship with Utena that gives her the strength to leave Ohtori Academy at the conclusion of the anime, as she wishes to find Utena, though it is never revealed if they are reunited. Akio Ohtori Anthy's brother, the interim chairman of the Academy. At first, Anthy appears to simply be Akio's loving, proud sister. Her relationship with him, however, is much more complex. Akio is controlling, manipulative and abusive towards Anthy. Later in the anime it is revealed that Anthy has an obsessive love for her brother and is in an incestuous relationship with him that was likely forced. Akio loses her to Utena in the end when Utena frees Anthy, granting her the strength to refuse when he wishes to begin the duels anew. His abuse was what led to the creation of Anthy's identity as the Rose Bride. Chu-Chu Chu- Chu is Anthy's pet monkey. For a time he is also her only real friend, and her seemingly favorite pet as he is almost always with her. For a pet, Chu Chu is extremely protective of Anthy, disliking her abusive boyfriend Saionji and instantly taking a liking to Utena when he learns she wants to free Anthy from the duties of the Rose Bride. Appearance Anthy appears to be an Asian Indian, probably Tamil. She is noticeably darker than the other characters and wears a bindi mark or jewel. Manga Anthy is originally depicted in the manga as having thick, black hair which is pinned around head resembling a crown. However, as the manga progresses, Anthy's hair is more consistently depicted as black, and her Rose Bride costume, initally pink, stabilizes as the red seen in the anime. Her school dress is the standard Ohtori Academy uniform conisisting of a white blouse with puffy sleeves and a neck-tie, paired with a sea-green pleated skirt, white ankle socks and loafers. Anthy also wears oversized circular glasses, which are later revealed to be uneeded entirely. Her hair, when released from its bun, is extremely thick and curly, and is approximately the same shade of violet as her brother Akio's. Her eyes are a deep green. Anime As in the latter part of the manga, Anthy is in the entirety of the manga depicted in standard Ohtori uniform with her violet hair pinned up around her head, although on ocassion (such as in Episode 3 "On the Night of the Ball", at Nanami's party, or Episode 20 "Wakaba Flourishing", while walking past Wakaba) she adorns her hair with ribbons or hairclips. When performing her duties as the Rose Bride, Anthy wears a red dress reminescent of those worn by traditional princesses, albeit with several additions such as military shoulder tassels. Her dress, which is sleeveless, is bordered with a sea green fringe at the edge of the bodice, and includes two separate cuffs worn similarly to bracelets. Moreover, when in her Rose Bride costume, Anthy dons a golden spiked tiara. Her hair, as in the manga, is extremely thick and wavy when let down, and although it is a darker shade of violet than her brother Akio's. Her eyes are a green similar to the frills on her Rose Bride costume. In the last episode of Utena, "Someday, We'll Shine Together", as Anthy departs from Ohtori in search of Utena, she wears an entirely different outfit than from the rest of the series; her hair is loose and free, under a white beret, she wears a pink travel suit with a white undershirt and matching white mary-janes, and she abandoned her glasses entirely, leaving them on Akio's desk. Movie In the film Revolutionar y Girl Utena: Adolescence of Utena, aside from her school uniform, Anthy's appearance is radically changed. Most noticeably, when Utena and Anthy first meet in the film, Anthy's hair is not only loose, but it is a more medium shade of violet than in the anime and completely straight. Utena's, by contrast, is quite curly. Her school uniform is unchanged from the anime, although her Rose Bride costume is redesigned, and much more similar to Utena's duelist costume than in the anime. Her Rose Bride costume now consists of a form-fitting, floor length dress with a thigh-length slit in the front, and surrounded by a sheer pink overskirt of sorts. The dress itself is two-tone, with the front and back being white while the sides are both red. Anthy continues to wear the red cuffs and tiara as she did in the series. In a flashback to Anthy's childhood as a 'witch', Anthy is depicted wearing the same large, puffy yellow dress that the Utena was presumed to have worn in the original introduction to the series. Personality Anthy initially expresses no personal emotions or thoughts for herself whatsoever, other than her care for Chu-Chu, although this is only an extension of her identity as the Rose Bride. In order to obey her fiancee's wishes, Anthy attempts to limit her visible persona to one of subservient docility. In reality, however, Anthy true emotions are often dark and at times malicious, as she shows no apparent remorse for hurting the feelings of others. Due to the unrelenting abuse she receives from Akio and her previous masters, Anthy holds little hope in humanity and thus refuses to trust others with her feelings until Utena endeavors to destroy the barrier between herself as a duelist and Anthy as the Rose Bride. Trivia Category:Female Characters Category:Main Characters Category:Characters